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Juan Gabriel Vasquezbooks include the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin award winner and national bestseller, The Sound of Things Falling, as well as the award-winning The Informers and The Secret History of Costaguana.

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The Grove

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Overview

THE NEW GUARDIANS OF DESTINY NOVEL

Calm the magics caught in thrall:Put your faith in strangers’ pleas,Watcher, Witch, and treasure trove;Ride the wave to calm the trees,Servant saves the sacred grove.

At the behest of their leader, the Witches of Darkhana are mobilized. Their mission: gather the most honest, true servants of each deity so that they may respectfully represent their land at the reopening of the Convocation of Gods and Man. For Witch-Priest Aradin Teral, his part in the quest has taken him across the length and breadth of Katan, searching for the best possible representative of an empire bent on preventing that very task.

Ever since the destruction of the last Convocation, the magics of the Grove have been warped, endangering pilgrims and residents alike and requiring the guardianship of the strongest mage the priesthood can spare. Priestess Saleria is now the Keeper of the Grove, and Guardian of the Divine Garden. The arrival of a black-robed stranger bearing the faces of two men brings the promise of change, even peace, to the isolated valley. But it also ushers in an irresistible passion and a threat to Saleria’s control of the wildest magics in the woods…

“I have to say it is a must-read for those who enjoy fantasy and romance…Jean Johnson can’t write them fast enough for me!”—The Best Reviews

“A paranormal adventure series that will appeal to fantasy and historical fans, plus time-travel lovers as well…It’s like Alice in Wonderland meets the Knights of the Round Table and you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next. Delightful entertainment.” —Romance Junkies

“An intriguing new fantasy romance series…A welcome addition to the genre. Cunning…Creative…Lovers of magic and fantasy will enjoy this fun, fresh, and very romantic offering.”—Time Travel Romance Writers

Series

Dear Reader Letter

Dear Reader,

I think I’m getting a bit bolder. Why? It turns out that the second book in my new fantasy romance series, the Guardians of Destiny, has not just one, but two heroes interacting with our heroine! Well, sort of…

You see, Aradin Teral is not an ordinary sort of man. He’s a Darkhanan Witch, a holy mage from the distant land of Darkhana. There, certain members of their clergy often act as living Hosts to the deceased souls of previous Witches. A Hortimancer by trade, he has been paired with a former diplomat and tradesman for the Church of Darkhana. Now the two have been sent a third of the way around the world to the Empire of Katan, in order to select an appropriate representative of that land to show up at the Convocation of Gods and Man, which will take place sometime soon on the Isle of Nightfall.

Unfortunately, though they eventually are directed to the best person for the job, they are sent to Priestess Saleria, the holy Keeper of The Grove, the sacred marital garden of Katan’s Patron Gods. Though she is skilled and strong as a mage, it is all Saleria can do to keep the untamed magics and the wild-wrought plants safely inside its walls. What she needs is a helper, not a man demanding she give up everything to go speak for days on end with her deities.

How confusing it is for her to suddenly be faced not with just one man, but two, for the Witches of Darkhana can share their shapes as well as the Host’s flesh. One, man blond and handsome in his early thirties, the other tall, dark, and equally good-looking just twenty years older, felled in the latter edges of his prime. It is confusing, but Aradin and Teral are just the men she needs in her life.

That is, presuming the Grove can be tamed, and the Convocation safely restarted after a break of roughly two hundred years…

I think you’ll like this one. For those who’ve read my previous eight-book series, the Sons of Destiny, you’ll get a treat as the Corvis brothers and their wives make a few appearances. You’ll see things behind-the-scenes of The Flame and The Mage, books seven and eight in the previous series, that just weren’t visible from the other protagonists’ point of view at that time…but which I’ve had in mind all this time.

For new readers, you’ll be able to dive quickly in and enjoy the plot as you meet many of this world’s Guardians, caretakers of great sources of magic…and watchers of a coming disaster, an invasion prophecied from the demonic Netherhells. You don’t have to have read the first eight books, though it might be good to read The Tower, the book that kickstarts the Guardians. But hey, it is the holiday season, so you can always ask for these books to be put on your gift wishlist!

And don’t forget, there are other great authors out there who have fantastic stories waiting to be read!